


Freak Me Out

by SunnySinclair



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Civilian to the rescue, Darcy and her taser, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2016-12-04
Packaged: 2018-09-06 10:44:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8747476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunnySinclair/pseuds/SunnySinclair
Summary: When a psycho bad guy has the Avengers beat again, Darcy just has to step in. Steve makes sure the normal day she tried to run away to doesn’t stay normal for too long after that though.





	

The New York public transit system was hard enough sometimes without the addition of giant-ass robots blocking the subway tracks. And this was the third time this month those same giant-ass robots were getting in the way.

It was pissing Darcy off.

It was bad enough she was stuck working a minimum wage desk job in a hotel all the way out in Brooklyn now, she did not need stupid villains with their stupid robots making her late again.

The subway cart had come to a halt and, in true New Yorker fashion, there was a lot of loud grumbling and complaining. No one was daring to try and get off though, with that thing laying across the track just ahead.

And there were rats out there too.

But rats or no, Darcy was fed up. Maybe it was made worse because she’d actually met the Avengers who were out there fighting and failing to stop this nutjob and his robot army, but she decided something had to be done and if no one else was stepping up then she, in all her angry and frustrated glory, would have to be the one doing that something.

There were a few alarmed shouts when she hit the emergency release for the door and pried it open, but Darcy ignored them. Her boots landed with a thud and she looked both ways down the track before heading towards the front.

The robot was lying still, no signs of activity, but Darcy only got close enough to take a look up through the hole in the tunnel above. She couldn’t tell exactly where they were from her view, but she was pretty sure it was still somewhere on Jamaica Avenue.

She tossed the downed bot a dirty look then, using her phone’s flash light to guide the way, headed for the nearest way out and up to the street above.

“Gah,” she groaned when she surfaced, a hand flying up to block her eyes from the sunlight. It took a few moments for her vision to clear enough to see the destruction – the road was torn up in a long path heading to the hole that went all the way through to the tunnel below, every other building she could see was showing some sign of damage and chunks of rubble littered the road in between abandoned cars.

It was eerie, everything so still. The exact opposite of New York City’s natural state.

For the first time since barging her way out of the subway cart Darcy wondered what the hell she was doing. Walking right on in to the middle of a battle zone was just plain stupid. She took a deep breath and let it out before starting to walk. It was a long shot, but possibly there were still some subways running, beyond the blocked track. It didn’t make the most sense, but just getting to work seemed like the best idea. She could get there, deal with hotel guests getting all frustrated or thrilled over their New York vay-cay getting interrupted by an Avengers brawl match, and pretend she hadn’t pulled any kind of dumb stunts this morning.

It was a solid, if simple, plan, but of course that meant things weren’t going to go so smooth. She’d barely started moving before a rumbling started up. The next minute all hell spilled out on the the Avenue.

There was a guy in a bright blue costume soaring around on the back of one of the bots shooting balls of crackling energy at the Avengers, who were right on his tail.

They all had singed or torn suits already, clear signs they were mostly on the receiving end of the beatdown going on. In just the minute that Darcy watched half of them were hit with whatever weapon the bad guy had. Captain America managed to shield himself, but Iron Man was hit and went down with a painful sounding thunk to the pavement. Falcon caught one on the wing and went spiralling in to the side of a building, and Darcy watched as Black Widow managed to pirouette out of the way just in time to avoid a full body hit. She was still caught in the side though and gave a pained shout as she fell.

Darcy was moving again before she’d even thought it through, only instead of running full ball in the opposite direction like a sane person she was marching right on towards the fight.

 

The fight had been brutal. Just like the last two times they’d tried taking Shockwave (the media’s dub, not theirs) on, they were badly outmatched. Between his weaponry and machines the team was lucky to all be alive still.

Hawkeye was out there, doing his thing. Several of the robots had been short-circuited thanks to some fancy arrows Tony had whipped up, but everything he shot at Shockwave was veering off. Some kind of forcefield, Tony had said, before his own suit was shorted out by Shockwaves weapon.

Steve hoped Tony was ok, locked in the armour right where he’d fallen, but right now he was just trying to keep fighting himself. He’d been hit, hard, too many times. Broken ribs made breathing hard, his face was bloodied, sharp pains racked up his spine with each movement. The hardest part of it all was watching his team get hurt though.

Shockwave gave a crazed laugh and came down, dismounting from his robot ride.

“Well well well, Avengers, brought to your knees again. Don’t you think it’s about time you just gave in? I’m better than you, I’m the be-”

Without any warning he was cut short. His eyes went wide, he gave one spasm, and then, in front of all of them, he fell flat on to his face.

“What?” The girl standing behind him, her finger still on the trigger of a taser, said. “He was freaking everybody out.”

 

Darcy was in shock. At least, she was pretty sure she was. She’d tased a guy who was maybe one monologue away from executing most of the Avengers and knocked him out cold.

She’d saved their lives, and brought down one of the most successful villains New York had seen.

And she’d run away before any of them could do anything more than gape at her.

Even as she hurried down in to a crowded subway station she couldn’t hold back a sharp giggle. The statement had been a joke to herself, so like what she’d said after doing the exact same thing to Thor several years earlier. She had to shove a fist against her mouth to keep the laughter in when she realised there was every possibility the Avengers might actually know that story from Thor, and when they figured out who she was (because there was no doubt they would) they might even get the reference.

Wildly, she wondered if they’d find it as funny as she did.

The trains were back operating underground almost as soon as the threat was taken out and Darcy didn’t think twice before jumping on the next ride to Brooklyn. It was autopilot really, going through with the plan to just get to work and have a normal day.

When she arrived almost an hour late her manager waved whatever she was about to say off. “Crazy supervillain attacking again, I saw the news. Just get to the front desk, any of the guests freaked out you just do what you do, calm ‘em down ok?”

“Yeah, sure thing. Absolutely no problem-o on the calming thing.”

He gave her an odd look before shaking his head and rushing off to take care of whatever pretend important hotel business he had.

Darcy just took her spot at the desk and tried to dial down the crazy eyes she was pretty sure she had going on.

 

“Darcy Lewis,” Maria Hill was saying, standing at the foot of Steve’s hospital bed and handing over a file. “One of Thor’s first contacts when he arrived in New Mexico. Graduate with a Bachelor’s in Political Science from Culver University, she was Jane Foster’s intern for several years.”

“Foster?” Steve repeated, struggling to sit upright. “Thor’s girl?” Maria gave a nod. “So, this Lewis, she was involved in the attack on Thor?” Another nod. “And London?”

Maria gave a long sigh. “Yes.”

“But she’s a civilian?”

“Such a civilian.”

“Well, for a civilian she was incredibly brave today.”

“From what I saw she saved all your lives,” Maria commented, and Steve gave a nod. It was the truth and denying it wasn’t going to help anything.

“She did, yeah.”

“Agents are on the way to her home now to pick her up and bring her in.”

“Bring her in?” Steve repeated, frowning.

“She was directly involved in the apprehension of a dangerous criminal.”

“So you’re going to bring her in like she’s a criminal herself?”

Maria frowned herself, but didn’t have anything to say back to that before Steve was getting up. “Captain – Steve, you’re not healed yet.”

“Yeah, but a man should be on his feet when he thanks a lady for saving his behind,” Steve grinned crookedly.

 

Two hours after she’d gotten to work, Darcy had fielded questions from a dozen guests about what had happened in the city that morning. They all came downstairs on their phones, reading the news, asking if it was really safe to head out. Darcy swore to each of them it was. The bad guy had been taken down and captured, the Avengers were fine, it was just another New York day.

“Excuse me ma'am,” a voice broke in, ending the ten minutes of silence she’d been enjoying.

“Hi, welcome to The Brooklyn Inn, how can I help?” Darcy asked, looking up. The smile slid off her face slowly as she actually took in the man on the other side of her desk. He was sporting bruises on his face, but it didn’t detract from the charm of the smile he was aiming her way.

“Ca-Captain America,” she stuttered, sitting up a little straighter. “Um… Ok, I totally figured some jack-booted thug was gonna be hauling me in and I know how to deal with that but I’m gonna go ahead and say I really don’t know what to say right now.”

She frowned and planted her hands on the counter, propping herself up to peer over it and down.

“You’re still hurt,” she accused, pointing at the leg he was favouring.

“It’s Steve, actually,” he said, tucking his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

“Doesn’t change the fact you had your ass kicked this morning.”

“No,” he laughed, pulling a hand back out to rub at the back of his neck. “No, that’s still a fact.”

“So why are you here instead of laid up somewhere getting better?” Darcy demanded, choosing to focus on that fact over Captain America personally coming to confront her.

“I wanted to say thank you.”

“You-? What?”

“Thank you, Ms Lewis. What you did was reckless and dangerous, but if you hadn’t stepped in…” He broke off and shook his head, the smile going self deprecating. “I don’t think I’m going too far to say my whole team is still alive because of you right now.”

He paused, hesitating, before rushing on.

“Uh, can I- I mean, if you’d like to, we could-coffee. Or something. As a thank you.”

Darcy blinked and lowered back in to her seat.

“Did you just ask me on a coffee date?”

“Yes?”

“You don’t sound too sure about that.”

Steve cleared his throat and gave a sharp nod. “Yes. I’d like to take you out for a cup of coffee.”

She regarded him for a few long seconds, and Steve shifted nervously.

“Darcy,” she finally said, holding out a hand.

“Steve,” he grinned, relieved, and taking her hand.

“Steve,” she repeated, smiling warmly. “Just let me tell my manager I’m taking lunch early and then I’ll take you to the total hipster joint down the street.”

She let out a bark of laughter when he gave a wince at that, but tried to cover it up with a smile. “Just a second, Steve.”

A minute later they were heading out the door, Steve’s large hand on her shoulder for support, on her insistence. He was still limping and Darcy tutted.

“I heal fast,” Steve said, unprompted. “I’ll be fine in a day or two.”

“So why didn’t you wait a day or two to come say hi?”

“I wanted to say thanks somewhere a little less intimidating than the base.”

“Ah ha! So there were gonna be Agent Thugs coming for me?”

“Yeah,” Steve admitted. “But when you weren’t home I told them to head back to base, I’d find you on my own.”

“Really?” She looked up at him in surprise. “Thanks. Not that I’ve got anything against your Avengers agents or whatever they’re called, but aren’t most of them ex-Shield? And I’m totally over Shield Agents getting in my biz.”

Steve gave another short laugh. “Makes sense. Although after two alien invasions, would’ve thought you were all over it.”

“Have you been reading my file?” Darcy demanded, meaning it as a joke. Steve gave a bashful nod though.

“Sorry about that.”

“Um, that’s ok? I think. As long as there’s nothing too awful in there. Please tell me there’s nothing about 9th grade in there.”

“Not that I saw,” Steve chuckled. “I have to ask though…”

“Yes?”

“He was freaking everyone out?”

Darcy slapped a palm to her face, stopped in front of the door of the cafe. “I don’t even know why I said that. It was a weird situation ok? I think I get some slack for that.”

“Clint thought it was hysterical,” Steve supplied.

“Well, I guess that’s not so bad then.”


End file.
